Easthampton bicycle ordinance update to be considered by City Council

Photo by Michael Beswick / The Republican The celebration of the new bridge over Route 10 linking Easthampton and Northampton via the Manhan Rail Trail is celebrated in May of last year. The Easthampton City Council Wednesday night plans to consider updating its bicylce ordinance to make riding safer.

EASTHAMPTON – The Easthampton City Council will consider updating the city’s bicycle ordinance with new provisions that include allowing cyclists to ride on some sidewalks when necessary and requiring people 16 and under to wear a helmet when riding on a public way.

Councilor Salem Derby, chairman of the Ordinance Committee, said in the spring as the committee was reviewing the ordinance that some sections haven’t been updated since 1967. Some are redundant and some don’t match up with the state.

The idea is to create an ordinance “to protect cyclists and encourage as many people to ride as possible,” he said.

State law bans riding on sidewalks and the city has specific sidewalks also named in its current ordinance.

But Derby said riders should be allowed on some sidewalks as they’re making their way to the Manhan Rail Trail.

“Lets take a look at sidewalks as multiple use trails, to look at them as feeders to the bike path,” he said.

According to the amended ordinance, “bicycles may be ridden on sidewalks outside business districts when necessary in the interest of safety.”

Those districts include Cottage Street, Park Street between Main Street and Payson Avenue, Union Street, and Main Street between Northampton and Center streets.

The proposal also looks at the restricted usage clause when on the Manhan Rail Trail. The amended ordinance while continuing to ban motorized vehicles makes an allowance for vehicles used as mobility aids such as electric wheelchairs, electric assisted bicycles as well as emergency and public safety vehicles. The current bylaw bans motorized vehicles except for public safety and emergency vehicles.

The city’s amended bylaw would also require that anyone 16 or younger riding or operating a bicycle or being carried as a passenger on a bicycle on a public way wear a helmet to meet state law. Currently the Easthampton ordinance requires anyone 12 or younger to wear a helmet.

A new amendment also would allow require a cylcist to ride as near as possible to the right side of the road, unless preparing to make a left turn, or riding in a lane which is too narrow, or when avoiding degraded street surfaces, or other circumstances where it would be unsafe.

The public hearing, one of three public hearings Wednesday night, is at 6:15 p.m. in the Municipal Building. Copies of the bylaw are available in the City Clerk’s office.